While the field of private investigation services has developed something of a shadowy reputation over the years, modern private detectives are actually usually quite legitimate: many of these professional sleuths now assist private corporations, financial institutions and federal and local governments with everything from insurance fraud to missing persons cases. However, when police departments and official investigations fail to deliver results, many individuals and families will hire licensed private investigators as well to help them deliver results. Such was the case in Florida recently, when the friends and family of a slain Orlando woman hired a private investigation company to help them uncover the cause of her death. Now, one of these licensed private investigators has announced that the agency has identified a promising lead.
Jessica Erausquin, 27, was found dead on a road in Cocoa Beach last year in an apparent hit-and-run. Her autopsy report shows that she suffered multiple skull fractures, brain injuries, and number of cuts and bruises on her head, neck and torso. Accordingly, Cocoa Beach Police classified her death as a traffic homicide caused by blunt-force trauma. But while the department says it is investigating all leads fully, Erausquin’s family and friends say that the police have repeatedly failed to update them on their progress and communicate with them about the case.
For this reason, the family decided to hire a local private investigation company, Diamond and Mann Investigations in Ormond Beach. Now, one of the licensed private investigators, Ryan Mann, has announced that they believe they have found the last person to see Erausquin alive. He declined to give the individual’s name or gender, saying only that the person was a former coworker and is believed to have crucial details about the last few moments of Erausquin’s life.
Mann says he believes Erausquin was involved in a car accident, citing comments in the autopsy report which state that she had bruises “consistent with seat belt marks.” He thinks that her body may have been dumped on the roadway after some sort of vehicular collision. Meanwhile, the Cocoa Beach Police Department says it has no updates on their investigation, and encouraged the licensed private investigator to contact them if he had information on the case.
Erausquin was originally from New York but moved to Orlando about nine years ago. She eventually graduated from Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale, FL with a degree in forensic investigations. Since her death, her friends and family have repeatedly tried to spread awareness of her death in the hopes of obtaining new leads. Their group, Justice for Jessica, passes out fliers in Cocoa Beach on the third Friday of each month and has placed a memorial stone on the road where she was found.
